Gas prices force business owner to think creatively | News

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The price of gas is causing one small business owner to re-think how he does business. It's all in an effort to keep him from raising prices for his customers. This as the average price of regular gas nationwide rose by about 20 cents in the past month.

Sam Dudding owns Fire Monkey food truck. He run his business four days a week and now spends about $300-400 each week, not only on gas, but on propane, which he needs to run the truck's generator. So, Dudding has become creative.

"It's definitely affecting us. There's no question about that," said Dudding. "The gas prices have changed enough that we're probably going to make decisions to not go to jobs that are as far as we could've maybe a few months ago."

Add to that more focus on cold menu items for the summer and more thought into food planning in general. It's all because of the high prices at the pump. The average price for the Bay Area stands at $3.88 per gallon.

"I think it's too much. I don't think it's fair for us to pay these kinds of prices in these tough times," said driver Sinan Abbasi.

Many drivers are already seeing a domino effect with higher prices for food. "Just about everything. Food, clothing, anything that has to do with the oil. Just transportation in general," said Jennine Frease.

"Little restaurants, which is understandable, because gas is more, so they have to go up on their prices," said driver Antwan Jennings.

It's what Dudding is trying to avoid. "You have to work a lot harder and you have to be a lot smarter than you used to have to be," he said.

Dudding said he's bracing for gas prices to get even higher during the summer. He said at that point it's possible he may have to raise prices, but he's holding off for as long as he can.